A Solid Gold Sound

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The Truth About 'A Solid Gold Sound'

Posted on 10/31/2009

EDGEWOOD, KENTUCKY -- If you are looking to book a professional DJ or Photographer for your event, I would strongly advise you to not book A Solid Gold Sound. Also if you are a DJ or a photographer looking to sub-contract or do business with A Solid Gold Sound, I again, would strongly advise you to seek work on your own and not do business of any kind with A Solid Gold Sound.
Please allow me to take a few minutes to EXPOSE these scammers for what they truly are:
The company has a great website with a lot of flashy come-on. Don't let this reel you in. They talk about their Professional DJ's and Photographers that are available to serve you for your special events, offering you great discounts if you spend more. (more come-on)
Truth is:
A Solid Gold Sound has no DJ's nor Photographers, nor Vidoeographers nor any such people of their own to serve you. Basically all they have is an ad and a telephone. This is why you are not contacted until the very last minute by your DJ. They are still trying to locate one for you.
Here's what they do:
They go to bridal shows in large cities and towns and set up their booths with their fancy come-on flashy colorful ads and try to get as many bookings as they can for weddings or any event. Then they try to hire out DJ's and others to go to these events and provide their services. I've even seen their ads on Craigslist.com in search of DJ's. There are several problems with this though. Firstly, they don't interview the people they send out to these events face to face beforehand so they haven't the least idea what they look like who they really are, if they've showered in the past month or anything. I mean these people could be sex offenders for all they know. Yet they're still ready to send them out to do YOUR event. Why should they really care though? They're not planning on paying them anyway. It's just another part of their scam to rip people off. This is why they only have DJ's who suck doing their bidding for them. The real professional DJ's will do a gig or two for them until they get wise and learn they are not going to be paid then they stop working for them.
A Solid Gold Sound could be a great company to work for or to hire for your event if they would simply pay their service people who work for them. It's like running an ice cream shop but you want your vendors to supply free ice cream.
Bottom line is: A couple getting married hires them to Dj their reception event and they're lucky if anyone shows up to do it. If someone does show up they're not professional as promised. They don't have the music you spent hours pondering over and they're not dressed appropriately. They may have never even had any prior experience DJ-ing a wedding reception. I know for a fact they have sent me out to do events and have promised the wireless mics included in their package and I have told them over and over again, I do not have wireless mics, but they say go anyway. This shows they really don't care about your event or what they have promised you in your package. They just want your money and once they get it, it's a whole new ballgame.
End result:
Your wedding day is ruined and your out several hundred dollars and it's too late to do anything about it aside from hauling them into court.(Which by the way, isn't at all a bad idea.)
I've read stories about how people chose A Solid Gold Sound because they were on a budget and Solid Gold Sound was so reasonable. Reasonable?!? You call $495.00 and up for a four hour event reasonable? If so then you'd better do some more shopping around because there are professional DJ's out there who would be glad to do your event for less than $400.00 and many for under $300.00. I, myself only charge $75.00 per hour to do a wedding reception if it isn't too far of a drive. A Soild Gold Sound is like the middle man. They charge you $495.00 and up to do your event and then hire it done for $175.00-$225.00 and this is why people are so surprised at the bad service they're getting for their money. Some don't get DJ's at all because the guy decided since he didn't get paid for prior events that he's going to screw A Solid Gold Sound by not showing up for your event and it is Y. O.U. the consumer who ends up getting hurt and ripped off. Then when they try calling A Solid Gold Sound to get their money back they get placed on hold or told, so and so's out to lunch or taking other calls or call back tomorrow or let me check on that and get back with you and so on. I'm really in awe at how they stay in business but I guess there is always some young kid out there just getting started DJ-ing who doesn't know about them and needs the work and is willing to take a chance to make a buck or two. Well let me tell you now, forget it! Don't sub-contract with A Solid Gold Sound because they will not pay you! They'll give you every excuse in the book when you call them but you won't get paid. If you do get paid, you will have to take them into small claims court like I am doing now. Consumers if you want to get your money back from this company, I urge you also don't call and send them emails and waste more of your valuable your time. File a complaint against them in small claims court. You do not need to retain a lawyer for this. You simply need your documentation and a filing fee which varies from county to county. They will have to pay this back also when you Win your case.
Better Business Bureau of Cincinnati says this company is out of busineess. I don't know where they're getting their information but A Solid Gold Sound is not out of business. Their website is still up and they are more than happy to take your booking and rip you off. They are scamming people daily out of hundreds at a time and no one seems to want to do anything about it. Don't waste your time with A Solid Gold Sound folks. Trust me, they are not worth the stress and headache they'll cause you, even if their service was free.

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My horrible experience with "A Solid Gold Sound DJ service"

Posted by Gloria Dunn on 10/04/2009

WEST HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT -- Where to start with this company. First off, I booked this company out of desperation since they seemed to be big and all over the place. Our wedding budget was pretty tight for us and I found their prices to be low. I knew that the way this DJ service worked was quite different with the way they run their business, but I took the risk because we couldn't afford anyone else at the time. They were quite easy to work with when we first booked with A Solid Gold Sound. We even had a better incentive, if we paid in full we would receive another discount off our service. We would be having our DJ for our wedding ceremony and reception. We were given our instructions of when to turn in our music list and to whom one month before the wedding. After spending a year planning for my special day, I wasn't going to leave out any details. I was up to date on everything concerning this day and had all of my details worked out to make it easier for my vendors. I received so many compliments on how hard I worked to plan my wedding with barely any help at all. I sent in my music list and details of my ceremony one month before. The company contacted me a week later to confirm that it was received. Everything was falling into place. I will admit that the office for the DJ service was very nice and easy to work with at first. I was told that my DJ would be assigned and contact me 7-10 days before my wedding to go over all the details I sent in. My wedding was on a Friday so when it was the week before I was hanging close to my phone anticipating that my DJ would call, but he didn't. I figured maybe they were busy with events and thought that I would be contacted some time during the weekend. Still no call. So I called the company on Monday to let them know my DJ had not contacted me and they gave me his name but reassured me they would let him know to call me. Then Tuesday morning I called again and said that I needed him to contact me tonight...its only 3 days before my wedding! I was very frustrated by then and starting to not believe that they were trying to contact my DJ. I let them know that if he didn't call that night that I would go with someone else. But 3 days before with so much to do, it would be pretty hard to find someone. My fiance called them on Wednesday and was not very happy about this situation and demanded a call by 11AM or we would cancel the service. The DJ contacted my fiance and said that he doesn't have a phone to be reached, he could only use a pay phone. He would try to contact me that night or Thursday (the day before my wedding). I had driven for 10hrs to pick up one of my siblings to stay the week and I was so tired of all this mess. During this I had another DJ from the company call me and said he heard my original DJ had not contacted me. I was relieved that this one was attempting to fix things. He said that he could definitely be at my wedding if I needed him and to call him that evening when I made my decision. I was done with the other guy and called to tell the company that I would like to go with this new DJ since he was willing to call me. They told me I couldn't go with this DJ because he would not be available and they made a contract with the other DJ to be sent to my event. That's where I lost it...2 days before the happiest day of my life and I couldn't have the DJ who would respond to my needs, or one at all for that matter. I didn't know what to think. It was as if this second DJ (who only worked with this company once in a while) knew that this guy may not show up or something, and he spent 2 hours on the phone with me sketching out a quick version of what I had planned for music. It still wouldn't have been right since he didn't have all of my music I picked. Then I thought...what's up with that? These guys may not be able to provide all the music I would like to have AND only leaving 2 days to figure it out? I cried ALL night, I was so confused. I couldn't believe that calling the company 8 times in 2 days and requesting they fix this matter wasn't enough? You can't plan for disasters like this. What do you do? My fiance told me that he was going to make sure the DJ would call me, like he claimed, by 11AM the next day "and he WILL play what you picked." The DJ did end up contacting me the day before my wedding day and went through my list. At first I felt I had to remind him that he was also in charge of my ceremony music and he said he had all of the information for my wedding. On my wedding day he was there, surprisingly on time, and from what I could notice had played everything I picked. He didn't interact with the crowd or have a "fun personality" like I had requested months before from A Solid Gold Sound. But after all the stress from that week, I was grateful to at least have music. He messed up only during dinner hour and was moving the reception quicker than he should have. The Banquet manager got upset because she couldn't get everyone to their seat due to the dancing music was playing too early. Then, he decided to choose what ever music for the cake cutting and garter toss. Which, by the way, we had to get his attention and tell him to announce. Seeing as it was the happiest day of my life...nothing was bothering me that day. Everything else went pretty sweet...well...it didn't matter. I was happy to be marrying the love of my life. But looking back I would NEVER recommend A Solid Gold Sound to ANYONE!!!! No bride wants to spend the 2 days before her wedding crying because one person didn't do what they were supposed to...last minute...its REALLY scary. You will get what you pay for (practically nothing, definitely nothing great) with A Solid Gold Sound. The office people were not helpful AT ALL! My bridesmaid was ready to jump through the phone and...well...you get the point. DO NOT HIRE A SOLID GOLD SOUND!!! Pay the extra money, you'll be happier!

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A Solid Gold Sound Complaint

Posted by Michael on 09/23/2009

A Solid Gold Sound DJ/Video Services is a nationwide Internet DJ/Video company ran by John Kruer with home offices in Kentucky.

I contacted this company back in June to contract their services. At that time I PREPAID IN FULL the total due for the services I was to receive on my wedding day. The first incident that took me back was when I had called to inquire about their services and got a disconnected signal for the # listed for the Kansas City # on the Website. I then called the 1-800 # and told the representative about this which he replied "I will have to look into that". They later took this # off the website. I also found out later that this company contracts local DJ's and had no local office. I then called a few weeks later to inquire about the free gifts offered on the website. I told the phone representative that I had never received the "Free Gifts"(money saving reports & countdown to wedding date clock)that was advertised on the website, at that time the representative laughed at me and told me he would look into it. I never heard anything else on that. Once I had my song list complete around 75 songs from the companies list and around 30 that I added. I faxed and emailed the list to their office. I then waited until 6 days prior to my wedding to call their office to ask when my DJ would be contacting me. I was told 7-10 days prior to my event. When I told the representative it was 6 days out she said "OH, well let me give
you his # so you can get ahold of him". I thought OK I will contact him instead of him calling me? I then called and spoke to the DJ who then told me he never received any info on my event from A Solid Gold Sound and he would have to call in and then get back to me. He did return the call later in the evening stating he had spoken with their office and after discussing it he was going to "pull me out of the fire" by doing my event, at that time I asked why was I "in the fire" to begin with? I was told that he was already booked for the day of my event but was going to cancel it, to do mine. I thought this strange considering I had PREPAID IN FULL MONTHS AGO. The DJ then asked me to send him my song list. I told him I had already sent it to their office twice and thought he could get it from them. He then went on to tell me how "unreliable" their office is and would prefer if I sent it direct. I told him I would, and arranged for a follow up call the next day. I called the Solid Gold Sound office the next morning to discuss how unhappy I was with the service so far and just wanted to get this done. I was told by their office that the DJ was a good DJ but was rather "full of himself" and he DID have the song list I had sent. I then called the DJ and he told me "no" he had not yet received it, and asked again if I would send it to him direct. I sent him the list and everything seemed to finally be headed in the right direction. I spoke with the DJ again the next day(3 days before the wedding) and arranged to bring the 8 or so songs he could not get, and told him if he needed anything else to let me know. This brings us to the wedding day. The DJ showed up on time to the event and the first thing we went over was where he would set up. After we got that cleared up he then asked about power, the owner of the establishment showed him where the power was located(about 30ft from the setup location). He then asked the owner for an extension cord! Even the owner was laughing and said "well the professional DJ's usually have an extension cord". Well the DJ had some sort of excuse for that. But the owner was nice enough to loan him one and he began to set up. Prior to the ceremony I asked the DJ if he had the ceremony music ready? He looked at me and said well no. I had discussed this with their office weeks earlier about him doing the ceremony music. And was told that's fine he would do it. That's why I paid for him to be there a half hour prior to my ceremony. Well regardless the DJ finished setting up, played a little easy listening music prior to my ceremony then got to relax playing no music for about 30 to 45 min during the ceremony. Once the ceremony was over and we came back to reception area the DJ then began to play some music. After about 20 min or so my new wife asked why he had yet to play one of our songs from the music we had selected. When I approached him and asked about this he told me "Well someone last week spilled a drink on my laptop so I'm using this backup laptop" I asked what this had to do with my songs and he said nothing, he would get some on for me. After the Wedding Toast and Bouquet & Garter tosses, we danced to our song (that I had to bring, that is available on I tunes). This was about 45 minutes of what I actually paid for. But soon after my wife again approached me and said she had heard this same song 3 times and had yet to hear a song from our play list! This was over half way through our event. When I went to the DJ to ask him why he was playing the same song he had played 3 times now he also had an excuse. He told me that someone from the event he had done prior had walked off with one of his patch cords and he was having to mix everything by hand? I asked again to just play some of our songs. After about another 20 min or so we finally got into our song list. Considering our event had been going on for hours I thought this to be completely unprofessional. Our song list finally made it into the play list with only about an hour remaining of music. After that I was more focused on attending to my guests and my new Bride. The DJ packed up and left exactly at his scheduled time. The next day when my wife and I discussed the entire day she said the only thing that she would have changed was the DJ. When I spoke with many friends and family they all said the same thing "Your wedding was beautiful but that DJ was awful" I agree with them.

I paid this company IN FULL AND IN ADVANCE for a what I was expecting to be a good job. It was most certainly not a good job.

Since my event I have contacted their office to ask for a some sort of refund all I have got back are rude defensive emails. The customer service was horrible from the beginning and the DJ was awful. The entire staff was unprofessional and rude.

I hope that anyone who is looking for a quality DJ stays clear of this company, after searching for complaints on this company(something I wish I would have done prior) I found many many complaints on them. The national BBB office gives this company an F rating which is the lowest possible.

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DJ company wrecks your wedding

Posted by ktjane on 09/26/2007

My reasons for posting are that the services that were agreed upon were not delivered on the date of my wedding, on May 12th by my dj company A Solid Gold Sound. The dj did not show up with any of the music that we had agreed upon beforehand. My attempts to resolve this problem led to my great distress and my dissatisfaction with A Solid Gold Sound. Others dissatisfaction with A Solid Gold sound can be found on the website (a news story by ABC) and another one by Inside Edition:

The company was unresponsive to the multiple phone calls and e-mails that I sent before and after the date of my event. I believe that an overall atmosphere of disorganization and a lack of customer service led to the problems that I experienced.

In my contract it says that the Operations Manager will contact me three weeks before my event to give me the name of my DJ and confirm that all details were in order. No one contacted me and at that time I took a proactive approach and called A Solid Gold Sound several times leading up to the wedding. I was told that all details were in order and that my songbook had been received. Five days (Monday) before my wedding my DJ had still not called me so I called the main office repeatedly for two days. I was told on Tuesday that my DJÃ¢ÂÂs name was Michael and he would be contacting me within 24 hours. Michael did not contact me so three days before my wedding they reassigned me another DJ. This was extremely stressful. The new DJ, Jeff, did not contact me until 10:30pm Wednesday night. At this point I found that my new DJ did not have my songbook, which carried all the information regarding choices for music as well as the order of events. In the two days remaining until my wedding Jeff insisted it was my responsibility to obtain all the information and give it to him by 5:00pm Thursday evening. I informed him that I could not gather the information and the songbook would have to be found. I called a Solid Gold Sound myself to help find the missing book but was informed that only one man, Jim, could help me. Jim did not return any messages that I had left for him throughout the week. I was put on hold on Thursday (two days before my wedding) for 20 minutes waiting to talk to him after I had been transferred to his phone line. Worrying I had been forgotten I called back and found that Jim had left for the day and no one could help me that day. The way I had been treated by A Solid Gold Sound got to me and I started crying on the phone. It was only at that point that I was transferred to a woman, Carrie, who told me the songbook was found and that my DJ would have everything for the wedding. She guaranteed there would be no further problems.

On Saturday May 12th, the day of my wedding, the DJ was not prepared. My bridal party stood in the hallway for 20 minutes waiting for him to announce us until we realized he didnÃ¢ÂÂt know he was supposed to announce us and we had to write our names down on a napkin and my photographer had to give it to him.

The DJ did not bring any other style of music other than Ã¢ÂÂMotownÃ¢ÂÂ. I am not sure what Ã¢ÂÂMotownÃ¢ÂÂ is but the DJ was not able to accommodate any requests by the crowd for certain songs. He did not bring the music for my new husband and my First Dance, nor the music for the Father-Daughter Dance. My husband and I spent days picking music for our reception and none of those songs were brought. I had to go to my car to get a CD for the First Dance. The correct song was on the CD and the DJ promised to listen to the CD first (to himself, quietly) before calling us up and playing it. We were called up and a song started playing. It was not the right one and the DJ kept asking me if it was the right one and he restarted it twice. This left us feeling and looking very foolish in front of all our guests who were watching. As the song played it was not the right one, in fact the chorus was Ã¢ÂÂ I donÃ¢ÂÂt know youÃ¢ÂÂ¦ but I want you soooo bad.Ã¢ÂÂ This was very embarrassing and many of my guests asked me if that was really the song that I had picked out. Overall, the DJ did not play any music that was picked out and agreed upon beforehand.

The DJ brought a friend to the reception. The agreed upon dress was formal tux and the DJÃ¢ÂÂs friend showed up in a Hawaiian shirt. This was inappropriate for my formal night wedding.

Since the DJ didnÃ¢ÂÂt know the order of events he made announcements without asking. Since he was wrong every time, one of my bridesmaids, my mother, or myself had to tell him no or mouth instructions to him from our table.

I was promised three bonus items in my that I did not receive.

After I got back from my honeymoon I immediately tried to get in touch with A Solid Gold Sound. Again I was told only one person, JD, could help me. I left voicemail, messages for him with his staff, and e-mail. I tried for a week before I threatened legal action and JD e-mailed me and asked me to send him a list of the problems. I asked for a refund. I waited three weeks after I sent the e-mail and I heard nothing from them. At this point I determined it was time to go forward with my bank's Credit Card Dispute since I was repeatedly being ignored by A Solid Gold Sound. I called A Solid Gold Sound to get a little information for my bank and it must have scared them because they offered me a partial refund with a promise for more after they had more time to discuss. They said they had sent me a 50% refund and I could expect to receive it in the mail in a few days as well as their follow-up phone call. I didn't receive any part of the refund and their promise of resolution was false. They passed their own deadline of my account resolution.

I called one last time three weeks later to get some more information for my bank and reached the company president John Kruer. He called me a liar on the phone and said that I was the irresponsible person and the source of all my problems at the wedding. He repeatedly talked to me in a aggressive and rude manner.

I did receive a 70% refund after all this, but it wasn't worth it. I can only hope that no other bride will have to go through what I have on their special day.

****UPDATE*****
After this posting was posted I received another phone call from John Kruer, the president of a Solid Gold Sound. When I answered the phone he said "Katie, I would like to send you some money." He repeated this several time and I reminded him that he had already sent me some money and I did not want to talk to him because he had been so mean to me. Mr. Kruer stated that he realized he had failed me and many other brides for a short period of time in which he had hired an unprofessional employee, who was the source of all the problems that occurred. He said that he was calling to apologize to all the brides who had been affected by this employee. Mr. Kruer stated that this employee apparently had father issues growing up as a child that had translated into authority issues today. This employee single-handily was sabotaging all the weddings to get back at his boss, Mr. Kruer! I asked Mr. Kruer how that explained his meanness to me in previous phone callsÃ¢ÂÂ¦ he said stress. I asked about his false and altered marketing that was included in my contract packet and he admitted that he has falsified marketing materials to cast his company in a better light, but only because it would take too long to truly show the great satisfaction of his customers. Mr. Kruer went on to say that he is a good Christian man who volunteers multiple hours a week at a childrenÃ¢ÂÂs hospital and his church and that I should feel bad for him that his business has been attacked by this one sabotaging employee. He went on to say that he has never sued anybody in his life and was a man of integrity when others tried to sue him. He reminded me that A Solid Gold sound has thousand and thousands of satisfied customers and it would take 20 years for all of them to March by the front door of his office (where did he get that statistic?). But he did want to apologize in the form of a written letter and give me the rest of my money back, which I agreed to.
Just as I am about to hang up the phone on that note Mr. Kruer tells me that he has seen this posting on my3cents.com. He tells me that I need to be careful because another company with a similar name to his is very mad about my postings and they are considering suing me! (How did he find this out?) Mr. Kruer says that these postings are not hurting his company but this smaller one that is ready to go through with legal action against me. Mr. Kruer says he has my best interest at heart and is just watching out for a young girl. He also warns me that owners of consumer report websites like this one are run by convicted felons with the intent of extorting the companies that receive the bad reviews for money. He told me that my posting could land me in jail or fined an exorbitant amount of money. At this point I asked Mr. Kruer are you implying that if I donÃ¢ÂÂt remove this posting on my3cents.com you will not send the remainder of the refund check that you just promised. He replied that his previous promise was not reliant on my removing the post but that it would be in my best interest. At this point I decided to end the call.
Needless to say I never received that check or any confirmation that it had been sent. I did receive a long line of threatening e-mails a couple of months later from him which I have posted in their entirety below. In it he threatens to sue me for slander but states that he is only concerned with my best interest. IÃ¢ÂÂve contacted the Cincinnati BBB and they have all this information on file and are trying to put together a case against A Solid Gold Sound. If you have similar experiences please contact them as well.

I responded once but have ignored him since because he only gets more vicious (I have not altered anything in these e-mails from their original content):

dear katie,
I hope this email finds you happy and healthy. the last we spoke, we had agreed that we would send you the balance of your full refund and you in turn would agree to remove postings on the net which reflect so unfairly on our company. (20 years ago, if a customer was unhappy with a service they would tell all their friends about it. with the net, 1 customer can make a company look really bad even though the company has more than 125,000 happy customers and a 99% satisfaction rating as we do). so the posting presents a disproportionately negative image of the company. also as we discussed, your postings seem to cross a line between expressing your feelings about your experience with us (and again, we are very sorry about what happened) and into a whole other area of advocacy against our company. we are now taking an extremely aggressive approach to defending our good name on the net and we must stand up for ourselves. we are not perfect but we are also not the company that so many exaggerated claims seem to show on the net. I really do not want to go there with you. I wish you all the best, and really do regret our failures with your event. what keeps me going is that there were 130 other evnets that weekend that went great and we saved a lot of people a lot of money. I am just writing because we have not seen the check we sent you cashed and the postings are still up. did you receive our check? if not we can stop payment on it and send another for $200 (150 for the refund and 50 to buy the 2 of you a nice dinner) and we trust that you in turn will take down the postings as we discussed. please reply asap.
thanks
john
A Solid Gold Sound

I'm afraid that I never did receive the check or letter of apology that we talked about that was supposed to be sent. When last we spoke I had planned on deleting any inaccuracies or exagerations of what happened in my previous postings once I had heard from you again per our conversation. As the saying goes I considered the "ball to be in your court" and since I never did hear from you or any of your associates again, forgive my assumption but I assumed that nothing was sent or was going to be sent especially considering what happened the first time Asolidgoldsound said they had sent me a check.

dear katie, thanks for your reply. please help me make sure we agree on what has been done. up to this point. we show that you have received and cashed checks for all but $150 of what you paid us and that we sent another check for 150 which you didn't receive (not surprising, we have had many checks come back from customers as undeliverable for one reason or another). what I am offering you is to resend that 150 check (please return the other if it ever shows up) but add another 50 to it to pay for a nice dinner on me. but I am also asking that your postings be removed because they are not fair to our company. we please way too many people for the world to think we please no one. there is a growing trend out there were companies are taking very aggressive legal action against customers who post complaints on the net...because the net is so powerful. the logic is: if you are unhappy, tell all your friends! but when you tell the whole world, that is a different matter....and even when the customer feels they are right and truthful, they are spending large sums on legal fees to prove that they have the right to "tell the whole world". there are other people involved with this company that want to take a very aggressive approach through the courts to make sure we are represented fairly on the net...and the net makes that difficult because 1 complaint doesn't show the true picture of our vast vast majority of our happy customers. I have never sued anyone in my life...but the postings are very harmful and I've promised these people that they would be taken down. I'm just trying to do the right thing here and avoid trouble for everyone, and I again apologize for the ways in which we failed you. I wish you nothing but the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
john

dear katie
I really need to hear back from you re the email I've now sent twice. I am sure you are very busy but I am needing to bring this to a friendly resolution or else I am going to be taken out of the picture and replaced with people who want to vigorously pursue this legally. Please help me to avoid that!!! But I cannot wait any longer on this. I have been given a deadline. I am very sorry about this but I have to know now. Please reply.
Sincerely
John
ps...I really hope you can see your way through to resolving this with me. I want to make it right as best I can.

hi katie,
this is my last attempt to resolve issues between us. I want to send you a refund but I need you to agree to remove a negative posting on the net. I am trying my best to work it out with you but I'm not hearing back from you. please contact me. if I do not hear from you by Monday 4/28/08 at 5pm est, I will be forced to start legal proceedings. I do not want to do this but we are hearing from customers that they are not booking with us because of things you said that our attorney says cross the line. again let's not go there but if we have we have to. please help me avoid this! you can email back or call me at 859-653-5102. this is absolutely my last attempt before filing suit and it will not be a small claims suit.
I'm sorry but I am trying here
john
A Solid Gold Sound

just sending this again in case your spam blocker catches my first attempts. katie, if you force me to file this case, it's going to get very expensive but we intend to demonstate in an official way that we intend to protect our TRUE reputation.
thanks, call me
john
A Solid Gold Sound

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Please Don't Book "A Solid Gold Sound"!

Posted by VTECnewb on 01/06/2009

I guess I'm not the only DJ who's been screwed over by this company. Not only is this company mistreating their customer's, they're also hosing the lifeblood that keeps their company going.

I found out about the company in response to a Craigslist ad (no harm on their part). The person who posted the ad was needing a DJ quick. I responded thinking they were a legitimate company. They put me on their DJ contractors list to inform me of future events that they needed DJs for. Surprisingly, with how lousy this company treats their customers, they somehow manage to book 30-40 events every weekend nationwide!

I ended up taking a gig for them on September 21, 2008. The wedding turned out very well...the groom even asked me for my business card for future events. I informed A Sensory Sound (aka A Solid Gold) about how well the event went and was expected to get paid within the next 6-10 days.

A month had gone by and still NO PAYCHECK! Unfortunately, I managed to book another gig with them while I was waiting for the first check to come. This second gig was for 10/17/2008. I had become so enraged at this point that I called up the bride and told her that she needed to help me get paid from this company or else I couldn't managed to show up at her wedding. I realized what I did was probably completely unprofessional but I can only be so patient. It was truly sad that I had to involve a future bride into my trouble so ensure that I would show up to her own wedding. When the bride called, of course, they gave her the runaround, so then I had to call them up myself. The president, John, was so shocked at what I did that he had to wire money to me the next day. I had to take drastic measures...I simply cannot work for free.

What makes this story even more interesting was that the bride that got married on 10/17 had also booked a videographer for her wedding from A Sensory Sound/A Solid Gold (by the way, what company advertises under 2 different names?!) Guess what? The videographer NEVER even showed up that night. So, future brides, think about your DJ, videographer, and potentially photographer, never even showing up for the one special day of your life.

With the president himself having to wire me money for my first gig with the company, I thought "OK, this company may have slipped and I'll give them another chance." I ended up taking a third gig with them, this time on 10/23. I was ensured by the president himself that I would get paid on time for any future gigs I would take on with the company. I did the second and third gig...both went completely the way it should. The brides were both happy. I provided music for their ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception. The guests were dancing on a Friday and Thursday wedding, atypical of most weddings that happen on Saturdays. So what happened to the check for my 2nd and 3rd gig? Today is Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2008, over a month past my 2nd gig, and close to a month beyond my 3rd gig, and STILL NO PAYCHECK!

I just called the company and talked to John himself again. Apparently, they have had so many calls that they have not been able to send out my checks. The first excuse they ever gave me was that my name never was in the "system", which I could accept since I was a new contractor working for them, but I can't accept that excuse today.

Future brides, parents of the brides, whoever is reading this...I hope you take into consideration all that I have written and judge for yourself whether the risk you're taking for saving a couple of bucks is worth destroying the most important day of your life. I had no animosity with this company prior to this and I am getting nothing for writing all that I have written so far. Hopefully, I am doing this as a favor to you all. I am by no means advocating another DJ company or my services or anything of that nature.

I am boggled at how this company is still in business (similar to many people who have posted complaints against this company). I can no longer accept another gig with this company because my trust for them has completely diminished. Please feel free to comment on this post. I am even willing to speak with anyone who wants to hear more of my story and my frustration with this company.

I'm sorry I had written more than I intended to...I could write even more. Thank you for reading this and I hope this will help you.

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History and the Same Old, Same Old

Posted by RealDJ on 10/08/2011

I wanted to shed a little light on this company....and I use the term VERY lightly. I worked for them as a DJ MANY years ago in a large city. I saw an ad for DJs in a local Job magazine, so I gave them a call. At that time, they actually did have an office and I went in for an interview. All went well and I was hired on as a weekly DJ. After a short time, the Operations Manager quit, and they asked me to step up.
Here was the normal set-up:
Each major city would have one actual office with phone numbers in every area code in the area all being transferred to the one office. This made the company look local no matter where the callers were coming from. The if a client wanted to meet in person, they could make an appoinment to go to the main office in that city.

When I started, they were charging $395 for a 4 hour wedding and $495 for a basic video taping. The concept was solid, but with that low of a rate, we could only pay $100 to $150 per event to the DJ and maybe $200 to the videographer. The only way to get people to work for this was to hire people with no experience and train them. There used to be good people working for the company back then, and we did about 1000 events a year. I had trained several guys and they would do a great job and were very loyal to me. That was until John Kruer would take money out of our checking account for his "Consultation Fees" and their checks would bounce. Here is where the problems were. John Kruer was a con artist. He insisted on having aceess to any bank accounts because he was the Founder of the company and acted like the Franchisor.
This is how his scam worked:
He would get young DJ who wants to work the DJ job Full-Time, and cash in on their eagerness to succeed. He would tell them they need to open an office and be the General Manager, and it would be their business. They would take out leases on offices in their names, open credit card processing and checking accounts, set up all the phone numbers in their own names and take all the risk. Then he would take money directly out of their bank accounts to get paid his commission. We had to buy all the marketing materials and forms from him and his in-house printing company, at inflated prices, and he would just sit back and collect the money. He didn't care about the business running, he would just take out whatever he wanted until the accounts were dry. He would bankrupt his General Manager once a year and move on to someone else.
When I came to my senses, I shut down my office. I took care of all the old clients, but new clients we transferred to one of his other offices.
I am still paying off some of those debt 15 years later.

John Kruer doesn't actually own A Solid Gold Sound, his wife does. He can no longer own a business in the US because of a fraud conviction in Florida about 20 years ago. He lives in Covington, Kentucky. At one point he had a lecturing business where people would pay him to talk about how to grow a successful business. The name of the main company was Syncorp. That's what the checks to me always said.

The history of this company is long, and I am sure John Tried to sell the company to someone else in the past 15 years, but make no mistake, he is at the center of all the major problems. The guys who do the real work and take phone calls were being screwed. They can't pay their personal bills because of John sucking them dry, and so there is no money to pay anyone else. That is why no one returns phone calls or emails. They weren't getting paid and they were dealing with all the problems. John was the only one getting paid. When they finally get out, John will get someone else. I learned my lesson too late, and so did many others. It's sad really, Couples are getting ripped off and DJs are getting screwed too. All because of one man ....JOHN KRUER.

I am sorry for anyone who was taken by A Solid Gold Sound, and John. He will get what is coming to him one day and he will suffer in the afterlife.

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Wedding Nightmare Thanks To A Solid Gold Sound!

Posted by AMANDA.OHIO on 11/18/2009

I hired A Solid Gold Sound to DJ and video my wedding, I prepaid 1500.00 In 2-2009 my wedding was on 8-22-09. My DJ was supposed to meet us the Wednesday before to see where he would be set up and get the details of what was going to happen on wedding day...Well long story short DJ got to reception site early and left early after throwing a temper tantrum. He didn't want to get up where he was supposed to and he didn't want to set up and tear down in between wedding and reception..(Which I paid extra for this). I had to call him and remind him everything was clearly outlined with A Solid Gold Sound and I had even had to pay extra for the things he was complaining about. The DJ informed me the company didn't compensate him for this..I let it go I thought he was just throwing a fit ...I tried to call the company well before 6pm to let them know I wanted a new DJ I waited on hold no one ever came back to the line...Out of desperation I remembered that the company had online chat I tried that and no one would answer...I was stuck with this DJ...So the next day is the wedding I'm getting ready and I get a phone call saying my DJ had arrived on his motorcycle no equipment in tow and he had on a cotton lounge/ sweat suit looking thing his hair all a mess from the motorcycle ride... He was asked where his equipment was he told us his "friend" was bringing it, he was also asked if he had brought a change of clothes with him since he was supposed to be in a tux or at least a suit and tie...His response was he was too large of a man for a tux or a suit!!! So my DJ sat in front of all of my well dressed guests in a sweat suit and hair sticking up all over! Wedding ends reception starts DJ's friend is still around we had to ask DJ if the friend could leave he wasn't on the menu list DJ said he needed the help.... I added the friend to the menu and drink list at an extra cost of about 40.00 The DJ introduced most of the bridal party in the wrong order... He didn't play the songs I requested he instead played Michael Jackson songs and other pop/rap songs of his choice instead of what I had chosen.... He was far from outgoing and energetic he just sat behind his table and my photographer and my friends had to go get his attention when he decided to screw up...

Now my videographer was very well dressed acted professionally very respectful but here it is 11-18-09 and I still don't have my wedding video, [snip] was given a bad check in October and A Solid Gold Sound has yet to pay him for my video...All the wile I have been being told by A Solid Gold Sound that my video is in editing..I have been calling or e-mailing everyday since I got home from my honeymoon 9-1-09 and I have no refund no video nothing but lies.....Please don't find your self in my shoes... Just pay a few extra dollars hire someone local you will thank yourself in the end...A Solid Gold Sound has turned the most wonderful day of my life into a never ending nightmare!!!

Amanda
toledo, oh

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A Solid Gold Sound Stole My Money And Refuse To Return Calls!

Posted by TinyPirate on 09/09/2009

MAYFIELD HEIGHTS, OHIO -- Before I knew any better, I contacted A Solid Gold Sound for information on DJ services and paid a $100 REFUNDABLE deposit. The guy seemed nice and helpful on the phone; now I feel really stupid and naive for being so gullible. Well, back to the refundable deposit, and I emphasize REFUNDABLE- the company even made a big deal about advertising that customers will get the deposit back if the event is canceled, you decide not to use them, etc.

Well, about six weeks before the wedding they still couldn't tell me who my DJ would be or when I could meet them, so I decided to cancel with them and went with someone else. I was given instructions for getting my refund- I had to print a form from their website and return it with a copy of my contract. I did exactly that, and mailed it off in March 09.

In April I called because I hadn't received my refund yet and I was told that it takes 6-8 weeks for a refund to be mailed, so I should wait...

In May, two months after I requested the refund, I called again to find out why I STILL didn't receive my money back. The person I spoke with told me they had JUST received the refund request in the mail that week (I mailed it in MARCH). I called the guy out on his lie and he just told me to blame the post office. Yeah, right. The guy said I should receive my refund check in the mail in a few weeks.

A few weeks came and went. In July I called again, and asked to speak with someone regarding the refund. The person I spoke with claimed to be from an answering service, and took down my name and number. I was assured that someone would call me first thing the next morning.

No one called. I called the company back again two days later, and this time they just kept "transferring" me to different people- each person told me I needed to talk with someone else, until eventually I was back to where I started, and supposedly no one in the entire company could assist me that day. When I complained about being given the run-around, they took my name and number again and assured me that someone would call me back who could assist and answer my questions.

No surprise that I never received a call. Of course by now it is too late to dispute the charge with my credit card company- by stringing me along for so many months the company took advantage of this, probably on purpose.
I am getting nowhere on the phone, and the company is not even in the same state so I can't pay them a visit in person.

I am at wit's end. At this point I don't really care about the money, it's the principal. The company really employed some sleazy and dishonest tactics, and are COMPLETELY unethical in their business practices. If I had googled them before giving them my money I would have seen the hundreds of complaints about them online and passed them up.

If anyone else had success getting a refund from this company, please let me know how you did it!

EDGEWOOD, KENTUCKY -- I own a Karaoke & DJ Service in Katy, Texas and it's the same sad story as all the others. I got the phone call from JD in June 2008 begging me to fill in at the last minute for a DJ who'd had a death in the family. Feeling compassion, I agreed to help him out. He agreed to pay me my normal rate and said they'd contact me with the information by e-mail. Stupid me. I'm a good person and too trusting. Three days later, June 14th, I traveled for 3 1/2 hours and did a 6 hour wedding for them and even put every effort into it that I would have my own client, which was way more attention and information than that little sheet they sent me had on it. The customer lucked out when they got me, and I got suckered by the absolute worst company ever. The videographer at the wedding said not to worry, that they are slow, but they will pay. I can't believe these people, and those working for them, can actually look themselves in the mirror, knowing what they do.

Except for the past few months due to an serious illness, I've steadily tried to collect on what they rightfully owe me, following all the instructions via fax, various telephone numbers, e-mails, etc. I've put up with constant excuses and lies. It's all a scam to steal from good, honest people. I've got all the e-mails and have documented all the phone calls in detail. I've spoken to and e-mailed [snip]. It's exactly as everyone else claims and they completely ignore you or tell you another lie to get you off the phone - if you can get anyone on the phone. You have to pretend to be a potential customer at first to even get that much!

I've read the rebuttals about how the owner, [snip], claims to be a Christian. Shame on you! Your problem is this time you messed with the wrong person. Although I happen to be a DJ on the weekends, I also happen to be a paralegal and have lots of lawyer friends and connections. I've been way too nice, way too long. I don't care if I have to go to Kentucky to fight. As a matter of fact, I've spoken with Becca, their employee, who is located and working out of her home right here in Houston, Texas. Investigation is underway to see if suit can be filed locally against ASGS since they have an operating office here in Harris County. Everyone is under the impression that these guys are all located in Kentucky. Not so. I'm not sick anymore and I'm ready to fight. This is all about principle and justice now.

I've already spoken to a lawyer and was ready to take them on myself but, after reading about everything they've done to other vendors and customers, I think it's time for a class action and we should do something about trying to close them down for good. Angrydj2008, if you're out there, I'm sending an e-mail your way. Please forward me a copy of your legal file and a list of the potential clients that previously contacted you. I'm glad [snip] finally came through for you, but he and his partners have a lot of amends to make. If anyone is interested in joining in, please contact me.

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DJ Didn't Even Show Up To The Wedding

Posted by Gledsie on 03/14/2009

ATLANTA, GEORGIA -- My wedding was June 28, 2008. I hired A Solid Gold Sound for videography and DJ services. (The way the get you is saying that if you book a certain video package "you get the DJ free." Then when the DJ doesn't show up they can say that your package was only for the video part and the DJ was free. That way they don't have to reimburse you.) The DJ did not show up and thank God my wedding coordinator was able to get a new DJ at the last minute. My husband and I had to pay this new DJ $700.

I spoke with John regarding a refund and he sent me a check for $450. I have been calling John since July 30th to ask about the additional $250 refund I should receive and he has been giving me the run around. I spoke to John on Wednesday, July 30th and he asked me to call him back in 1 week. I gave him 2 weeks and called back on Friday, August 15th, again he asked me to give him one more week. I gave him 2 additional weeks and called back on Friday, August 29th, again he asked me to give him one more week. I gave him 1 whole month to rectify the situation and called him on Friday, September 26th. This time he did not pick up the line and I just sat on hold. I called back again on Monday, September 29th and he said he had a lot of calls and couldn't address the issue. I called back the next day, Tuesday, September 30th and he said to give him a couple more days. I made another attempt on Friday, October 3rd and he said he hasn't had a chance to do anything because they have been so busy and to call him next week. If this is not the run around then I do not know what else to call it. That was 3 months and 6 days and I still did not have an answer as to when I will get the $250 refund. So I filed a complaint with the BBB. The company did nothing about the complaint.

After I filed the complaint I still received the run around. It went like this:

Called & left a message on 10/22 @ 2:30 P.M.

Called on 10/24 @ 3:37 p. m.& left a message.

Called on 10/31 @ 4:32 p. m.& left my work phone # with him. He said he is busy & will call me back in the early part of next week.

Called on 11/10 and he said that he hasn't been able to get in touch with the person to see how he can get this resolved. Give him 1 more week.

12/3 - He's trying to fix an emergency situation. Call him back on his personal # tomorrow @ 10 or 10:30 A.M.

12/4 - Called @ 10:30 A.M. Received a voicemail. Left a message. 12/5 - He is waiting to hear from the DJ to see if he has proof that he was in the hospital. If he cannot show proof then I will be refunded more. If he can show then the $450 is the only refund that we will get since the "contract was for the video and the DJ was free." If I do not hear from him by Wednesday, then give him a call.

12/12 - He was on an emergency call. Try him back later or on Monday.

12/15 - He has not heard from the DJ. Give him a few weeks.

01/13/09 - Sent an e-mail to priorevents@aol.com.

01/15/09 - Left a message with some lady.

01/23/09 @ 10:02 A.M. - He is on the phone with someone and he will call me back in 10 minutes.

01/27 @ 2:22 P.M. - He is in a restaurant & does not have a pen. Can I call him back in 1 to 2 hours?

01/29 @ 2:15 P.M. - He is in an area that had the ice storm and cannot get online to view his spreadsheet. Call him back tomorrow around this time.

02/02/09 - Forwarded the e-mail again.

02/09/09 - He cannot do anything else. The $450 is all that he can do.

It took me 7 months and 12 days to get the response that there is nothing else they can do for me.

It took me 2 years to plan my wedding and this company could have messed up the most special day of my life and not even blink an eye. Thank God for a great wedding planner! Can you imagine a wedding without any music? Scary thought!!!